Thursday, May 25

Today's DTC news, tips, & tools you need to know

📸 Take the sharpest product pics with these tips

📰 TL;DR - Here’s a really fantastic guide for a specific technique you can use to create sharp product images. The technique is called “focus stacking” and involves taking a series of pictures with a different focus, then stacking those photos into a single crisp photo. The guide here is meant for the use of a DSLR, but I bet you could pull it off with a recent smartphone with a little setting trickery.

💡 Insight - Depending on how familiar you are with camerawork, this may be either super easy or a steep learning curve, but it’s solid advice. And I know from experience just how tricky product photography can be when you’re doing it all yourself and don’t have a professional photography background. I’d also recommend always using a tripod and getting your hands on even a cheapo lightbox from Amazon if you’re just starting out.

🔥 How to get high-quality design assets 20x faster with Superside

📰 TL;DR - Say goodbye to expensive design agencies and missed deadlines with Superside's Creative-as-a-Service. Get top-quality design assets 20x faster at a fraction of the cost.

💡 Insight - Traditional design solutions can be slow, expensive, and lack transparency. But with Superside's Creative-as-a-Service, you get access to a dedicated team of top-tier talent, including a project manager and design director. The best part? You'll get high-quality design assets 20x faster than with traditional agencies and at a fraction of the cost

➡️ Whether you need high-performing ad designs or complex motion graphics, Superside has you covered. Try it now with a free VIP demo here.

🚴🏻‍♀️ Peloton reinvents itself

📰 TL;DR - Peloton is giving itself a little makeover. It no longer wants to be seen as that brand with pricey bikes and treadmills — they want to be a full fitness brand. That’s why they’re hyping up subscriptions for classes for people who don’t actually own a piece of Peloton equipment but still vibe with the Peloton lifestyle. To quote their chief marketing officer, “We’re shifting perceptions from in-home to everywhere, fitness enthusiasts to people at all levels, exclusivity to inclusivity across all Peloton Members present and future”

💡 Insight - This is a smart move and opens up the Peloton brand, which seems cult-like, thinking of the Peloton owners I know (and I mean that as a compliment to Peloton!). Given recent troubles at the company, something needed a refresh. Let this also be a reminder that as your brand evolves over time, it’s more than okay to go with the flow and switch up your branding, voice, and central product.

🇲🇦 Making Moroccan rugs DTC

📰 TL;DR - This is a great profile of Beni Rugs, a DTC Moroccan rug brand. It actually took them three years of planning and legwork to get the operation running because the Moroccan rug industry simply wasn’t set up to run the way Beni Rugs wanted. So, they created a studio space to bring artisans together while also providing benefits like health care and childcare. And they’re not the only players here — other brands have found ways to modernize this traditional craft as a DTC offering.

💡 Insight - This is such a fascinating and in-depth look at how to take a very old industry and adapt it to modern commerce practices. A lot of DTC brands have been based on taking an existing concept and reinventing it for e-commerce, but this is a whole other level. Especially when you consider that consumers purchase Moroccan rugs because they want that authentic artisan touch. What product could you reimagine as a DTC business?

🛠️ Things worth checking out

💳 POS - Shopify is extending its point-of-sale hardware to Canadian retailers. Read more here.

😮 BRAND NAME - The name of your brand is everything, so it better be good! Here’s a guide on coming up with a recognizable name.

🎯 TARGET - Target has pulled some Pride merch after right-wing backlash — and that has upset both shoppers and employees. Read here.

📈 SALES - E-commerce sales were up overall in Q1. Get all the numbers here.

Did you learn something new from today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

If you want to reach our audience, fill out this short partnerships form.

Disclosure: Some things in this newsletter may be a sponsored post or Growth Daily LLC may be getting a small commission if you sign up / fill out their form or Growth Daily LLC might own a percent of the business. In particular, but not always, those sponsored or commissioned or owned posts or might have an * in it the subject headline.